Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
(
www.accf-online.org
). Farmers interested in resistant Asian
stocks can find suitable varieties at local nurseries.
Pecan scab, evidenced by sunken black spots on leaves, twigs,
and nuts, is more of a problem in the southern than northern
states. At the scale of a mini-farm, it is most easily controlled
through meticulous sanitation—the raking and disposal of
leaves and detritus through burning. Severe infestations
require multiple fungicide sprays yearly.
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Walnut anthracnose, a disease characterized by small dark
spots on the leaves that can grow to merge together and
defoliate entire trees in severe cases, affects black walnuts but
not Persian varieties. Meticulous sanitation is normally all
that is required on the scale of a mini-farm, but springtime
fungicide spraying may be needed in severe cases.
Walnut blight is just the opposite in that it affects the Persian
walnut varieties but not American black walnuts. Walnut
blight looks like small, water-filled sunken spots on leaves,
shoots, and/or nuts. The disease doesn't travel back into old
wood, so the tree and crop can be saved by spraying fixed
copper during flowering and fruit set.
Pest insects in nut trees can be controlled through keeping the
area mowed and free of tall grasses that would harbor
stinkbugs, meticulous sanitation to control shuckworms, and
regular insecticide spraying to control hunkflies, weevils, and
casebearers. For a handful of nut trees (unless the mini-farm
is in close proximity to a large number of similar nut species),
pests are unlikely to become a major problem, and it is likely
that spraying will never be necessary.
